Pac-12 Showdown: #3 Stanford vs. #6 Oregon
By Johnny Pylon
The biggest game on the docket this week will be played in the mecca of college football: Palo Alto, California. Clearly this is the first place that comes to mind when you think of the most absurdly passionate, diehard college football fans in the country. Oh wait, not at all. Palo Alto’s football reputation is far exceeded by its coding prowess, yet somehow the Cardinal have the nation’s longest winning streak at 17 games and have risen all the way up to #2 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll.
However, the biggest challenge of the season awaits as Oregon brings their “track team on grass” into town on Saturday. The Ducks have won 18 straight Pac-12 games (including a win over Stanford last year) and are looking to take control of the top spot in the conference.
With only 50,000 seats, Stanford Stadium will be sold out and maybe, just maybe, provide the atmosphere of a big-time college football game. Hopefully the Cardinal fans will stop building apps that can generate crowd noise at a football game and actually make noise at a football game. In addition to home field advantage, Stanford has quarterback Andrew Luck, the frontrunner for the Heisman trophy.
Not only does Luck have a 26 touchdown passes to only 5 interceptions, he can also rock a beard like Grizzly Adams. A few little known facts about the future #1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft: he spends his summers trapping small game in the Montana wilderness, he brews his own Kombucha because buying it from Whole Foods is too corporate, and he courts women by dragging them back to his cave by the hair. Fine, that last one isn’t true. One thing’s for sure, Luck will have to be at this best to keep pace with Oregon’s high-scoring offense.
The Ducks have battled injuries to their quarterback/running back duo of Darron Thomas and LaMichael James, but both appeared to be at 100% last week against Washington. Even when forced to bring in backups, this offense has racked up 46 points and 511 yards per game. Even after missing 2.5 games, James is 11th in the nation in rushing yards. Darron Thomas hasn’t been quite as impressive lately with four INTs in his last four games, but he’s still a very efficient quarterback. Also, if football doesn’t work out, he’s all set up for a career in bank-robbing:
Stanford’s defense has also been hit with the injury bug, losing linebacker Shayne Skov for the year with a knee injury and starting safety Delano Howell for the last three games with an injured hand. However, the Cardinal has still managed to allow only 16.6 points and 324 yards per game. How the Stanford defense performs against Oregon’s unique, hurry up rushing attack will go a long way in deciding the outcome of this matchup. It should be a great game with the winner earning the inside track to the Rose Bowl. And as viewers, the only way we can lose is if Oregon wears these again: